I'm Still Here

I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, promise :) But I am counting down the days... hours... minutes until Friday. What's Friday? Other than April Fools (always entertaining), it's my last day of employment for the forseeable future. I'm so excited... and exhausted. I've been working overtime to boost my last couple paychecks before I'm home full-time. I'm very ready.

My 32 week bump

Our house is slowly but surely coming along. All the tile has been removed from the bathroom, along with the sink, vanity, medicine cabinet, and light fixtures. Shaune made a new friend at church who is a retired electrician -- he's coming over bright and early Saturday to help us rewire to modern code. No more 1932 paper wrapped wire in this house! I detest living in a construction zone, but alas... it's necessary. I just keep reminding myself of the end goal: a lovely house before Baby Girl comes home. It is possible! She's still growing well. She's a mover... goodness! I never realized just how much exercise babies get while they're still inside! My poor organs... I finally saw my doctor yesterday for the first time since early January (I've been with nurses since I'm not high-risk) and had the labor talk. I'm so glad to hear that she's got similar opinions to me. I'm going to have to have a hep-lock available for IVs, but she won't hook anything into it unless totally necessary. She's willing to do intermitant monitoring and doesn't induce for over-term until after the 42 week mark (as long as everything's looking ok). She'll allow me to drink whatever I want in labor, and although she did say "no eating," she winked and smiled, which is code for "what I don't see won't hurt." Not bad, considering that the hospital where I'll be delivering is in one of the most sue-happy counties in the country! They are so overly cautious with liability here... that's part of why it was a challenge to find a doctor at all. There are no (advertised) midwives, no independent birth centers, no anything except one extremely large (40+ OB) medical group. I got a good one, out of those 40. 7 weeks left. I hit 33 weeks yesterday. However, my original due date was a week earlier, which would be 6 weeks. Either way, this is the last week they'll stop pre-term labor -- it's practice in this area to not stop it past 34 weeks. I'm starting to pull together a bag and praying she doesn't come before my showers -- one of which isn't until the 27th of April! Keep cooking, Little Girl!

Single Car Families?

Hi ladies! I wanted to ask your opinion on something that's coming up in our near future: Are any of you single-car families?

My dear, darling, 12 year old 210,000 mile car isn't going to make it much longer and we're looking at not replacing it. Have any of you made do with a little one and just one car? What do you have to do to make it work?

Thanks for sharing!

30 Weeks and Nesting

Why can't I nest like other pregnant women? You know -- sew up a few cute little things, spend way too much money buying cute little wall decor, clean everything so it shines like a hospital? That would be normal. I've never been normal. Instead, I decided to destroy the only bathroom in our house:

Yeah... that's smart.

The tile's coming down, and so is most of the paster behind it. 80 year old plaster in a bathroom with bad tile permanently adhered doesn't like to stay on the wall. It's a hot mess. Shaune called in reinforcements: I'm kicked out on Saturday and the boys are replastering the whole disaster; then we'll paint and retile (just the shower area this time). Don't watch HGTV ladies... it'll give you an inflated sense of ability.

And maybe THEN I'll the moving boxes out of what-will-be the nursery! This poor child... lol. At least we've got a carseat. Beyond that, her mom's insane.

Blueberry's Butterfly Quilt

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to make my little one a quilt. One that was bright and cuddly, perfect for a little person to play on and sleep under. Then we found out we were having a girl :) I would have been completely thrilled with a boy -- seriously! -- but there's just something fun about sewing for a little girl. I spent far longer than I should have at Joanne's Fabrics searching for the *perfect* fabric to make the *perfect* baby quilt for my little girl. And alas! Here is is:

Double Irish Chain is one of my all-time favorite blocks (I like the triple even more, but that was too many seams to match this time). I've always wanted to make it. So I did! God bless the women who came up with the rotary cutter and the strip-piecing method of quilting... without you, this would never have happened. I don't have the patience to match that many little squares. Goodness! Every time I make a quilt (and I ONLY strip piece), I get more and more respect for those ladies who pieced each individual little piece of the horribly complex quilts I've seen from the past. They're amazing.

I couldn't resist this butterfly print. It's lovely. The back is daisies and I'm going to applique a butterfly out of scraps along with the quilt label. The binding will be the royal blue like the inner border (and the tiniest butterflies! Can you see them?). And I have *just enough* of the butterfly print left over to make a little dress to bring Blueberry home in.

Here's where I'm struggling: As much as I LOOOOOVE to piece quilt tops (strip piece!), I actually dread the quilting part. I don't know why. I've only actually finished quilting one quilt. I've started a couple others and lost interest. I'm hoping that this time I have enough motivation -- and a deadline! -- to keep me going. I've decided to hand quilt since I've been having to spend a lot of time with my feet up. I hate being idle. This'll keep my hands busy.

I need your ideas. How should I go about quilting this? I was just going to straight stitch down the center of the pink chain and "in the ditch" along the borders, but I need SOMETHING for in the big butterfly squares. I'm at a total loss. And, I should probably do SOMETHING inside the big green border, too. Any thoughts? I'd appreciate it -- I'm clueless!